The life and times of the Chief Dental Editor of Dental Products Report magazine and dentistry's "Technology Evangelist". Follow my thoughts and travels as I practice, write, lecture, tinker, and experiment with technology and technology in dentistry.

Sunday, April 3, 2011

If you are a Tivo subscriber (I am) and you haven't checked your email, you're in for a surprise.

It seems their email database was hacked. Rather than explain the whole thing, here is there announcement which was sent to my inbox:

Dear TiVo Customer,

Today we were informed by our email service provider that your email address was exposed due to unauthorized access of their system. Our email service provider deploys emails on our behalf to customers who have opted into email-based communications from us.

We were advised by our email service provider that the information that was obtained was limited to first name and/or email addresses only. Your service and any other personally identifiable information were not at risk and remain secure.

Please note, it is possible you may receive spam email messages as a result. We want to urge you to be cautious when opening links or attachments from unknown third parties.

We regret this has taken place and apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused you. We take your privacy very seriously, and we will continue to work diligently to protect your personal information.

If you have unsubscribed in the past, there is no need to unsubscribe again. Your preferences will remain in place.

Sincerely, The TiVo Team

After a little research, it seems that JPMorgan Chase, Citi, US Bank, Kroger, and Walgreens have also been affected by this same electronic break-in. Supposedly no personal data or credit card numbers were accessed so all you should be vulnerable to is a potential onslaught of spam.